FIVE reasons why women directors are such a rare sight

1. Stereotypical pre-conceptions have been created within society about womens roles as housewives. A kind of gender hierarchy has formed on this basis which prevented women of doing the jobs that men had done throughout history. To this day, the media industry has predominantly consisted of men, however change has started to occur in society and men are becoming more in touch with their feminine side, and more women are getting the top jobs. This ties in with the 'New Man' theory.

2. The media is a predominantly male industry and in order to find a career in it you will definately need to know the right people in order to be successful. With the high numbers of men making the big decisions, it can be more difficult in some cases for women to get promoted.

3. Pregnancy can also be another reason why there are not as many women directors. Being a director is a very demanding job. Having a child can make this alot more difficult.

4. Men are at the top of the foodchain ('Fat Cats'). As a result there seems to be a male dominance.

1990's

Junior - 1994

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RmHQBXJuwQs&feature=related
As part of a fertility research project, a male scientist agrees to carry a pregnancy in his own body. This film identifies men with their feminine side as Arnold Schwarzenneger and Danny Devito attempt to care for and raise the baby as a mother would her own child. This re-enforces ideologies that make up the 'New Man' theory, in which men are more sensitive and caring, while women are tougher.

Goodfellas-1990

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=twVYnfNbQGo
Male dominance and masculinity is apparent in this film with the power of the men in jail being emphasised, while the women adopt a very different role in which they're represented as premisucuous at times and as sex objects.

1980's

Terminator - 1984

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0MFkKvISvcI
Women has been portrayed as playing several different roles in this film which consist of, lover/sex-object, fighter/survivor, and also victim/last girl.

3 Men And A Baby - 1987

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PLmNBgBQ78M
Demonstrates changing gender roles in society where men become more in touch with the feminine side of their personalities. This supports ideologies of the 'New Man' theory in which men appear to be more sensitive and women are tougher.

1970's

Alien - 1979

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3HjwbnhVnDM&feature=related
For one of the first times in film, a female is beeing represented as the hero/heroin of the storyline. However, this is still not fully re-enforced in alien as we see the lead female running away from the aliens which displays traits of weakness and fear.

The Owl And The Pussycat - 1970

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qWeQGxZlv1s
1970 romantic comedy with the lead female character playing the role of an uneducated actress, model, and part-time prostitute.

1960's

The Sound Of Music - 1965

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQdYoK64S4
A 1960's film with main female character, who is represented in an innocent light.

The Witch's Mirror - 1960 Mexico

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kbRH7sKnog0&feature=related
Women with authority represented as evil.

1950's

1.) High Noon-1952

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QKLvKZ6nIiA&feature=related
The western genre of films was extremely popular in the 1950's, however their main emphasis was placed on masculinity and females were very rarely if ever given important roles in these films, this reflects the opinions of society and the media at this point in time.

2.) Sunset Blvd-1950

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLOvSiBW4I
1950's film which has representations which imply that women with power are in some way crazy/evil/ out of control.

THE CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN FROM PAST TO PRESENT

The representations of women have evolved in a big way since the past. Many believe that societies perceptions have changed and people think that women deserve more equality which they have now achieved in a big way. It is no longer about a patriarchal society, however from some certain aspects it could be argued that the roles of women have not changed at all from the past.

On the other hand, media texts today show how the representations of women have advanced in that they are given more challenging and masculine roles. For example in many sitcoms such as the hit american show 'Friends', where the male characters often deliberately display their feminine side and the female 'stars wear the trousers' in the show. This has been used to reflect equality of gender in society as a group from both genders are being represented as being equal to each other, which to an extent indicates that there is a deterioration of the patriarchal ideologies in society today.

In my opinion, women are starting to gain more recognition and getting the top jobs in society, however judging from sources such as the media guardian 100, it could be said that that women are still nowhere near equal to men.

The representation of women in the past was unequal to men and they were presented with the low priority jobs. They did not get the top jobs but would most likely be taking orders from their male bosses. For the women who were acting in the media, they too were not given any major roles as this was the mans job.